Followers

Monday, June 30, 2014

The album hit No. 2 when it was released in the UK on March 10 and hasn't left the UK Top Ten since: it is the UK's third biggest selling album of 2014.

Lavish ballad "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" will be the first U.S. single and it impacts Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary radio on July 14; available at all digital retailers on July 15.

Written by Grammy-winning songwriter Diane Warren "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" is the biggest hit of Paloma's career to date. The video has already surpassed 3 million VEVO views http://t.co/bLtK0rDYOt The video for Paloma's next UK single, "Trouble With My Baby," has also premiered on VEVO: http://t.co/cgiBMYIZti

Many of the collaborators actively courted Paloma."A Perfect Contradiction" marks a change in sound for Paloma, who explains, "Its tone is the very opposite of what the last album was. There are a couple of melancholy moments, sure, but it's much more a 'if it's all gone to shit, fuck it, let's have a dance' kind of record."

"I've been reflecting on things that have been tough, but I'm almost celebrating that," says Paloma. "If you haven't been to the bottom, you wouldn't be able to recognise how it feels to feel really amazing, after all."

Since I saw him live during the U.S. leg of the tour, I really look forward to seeing this reissue...

Following the recent anniversary edition of Morrissey's 1994 UK chart topper Vauxhall and I, Parlophone will release the concert film Introducing Morrissey, previously unavailable on DVD, on Sept. 9.

After the acclaim and chart success of the album, Morrissey did first UK shows
in over two years in Feb. 1995. The home video documents the tour,
recorded over two nights at Sheffield's City Hall and the Winter Gardens
in Blackpool (Feb. 7-8). The hour-long
concert, directed by James O'Brien, captures Morrissey and his band performing to hysterical audiences in packed venues.

INTRODUCING MORRISSEY DVD

Track Listing

Billy BuddHave-A-Go MerchantSpring-Heeled JimYou're The One For Me, FattyThe More You Ignore Me, The Closer I GetWhatever Happens, I Love YouWe'll Let You KnowJack The RipperWhy Don't You Find Out For YourselfThe National Front DiscoMoon RiverHold On To Your FriendsBoxersNow My Heart Is FullSpeedway

“That is the thrill of his music – it has been a high-wire act from the start. But it has also been art of the highest order, art which has refused to accept definition or limitation, art of the greatest daring and profundity which at the same time never fails to delight. “There’s not one-millionth of an inch difference,” Sam Phillips said, “Between the way Jerry Lee Lewis thinks about his music and the way Bach or Beethoven felt about theirs.”

- from the liner notes of Rock & Roll Time written by Peter Guralnick

One of the greatest rock and rollers of all time, the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis will be releasing his new album Rock & Roll Time on Oct. 28 on Vanguard Records – his first for the label.

"Rock & Roll Time" was originally co-written and recorded by Kris Kristofferson in 1974. Lewis’ rendition features guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and Jon Brion. Recorded at the House of Blues Studio in Memphis, this 11 song collection pulls from the vaults of Chuck Berry (Little Queenie), Bob Dylan (Stepchild), Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues), and Jimmy Reed (Bright Lights, Big City). Full tracklisting is below.

On Oct. 28, Lewis will also be releasing Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, a biography co-authored with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rick Bragg. Currently, Jerry Lee Lewis has two upcoming concert dates scheduled: on July 5, he will be performing at Harrah’s Resort in Valley Center, CA and on Oct. 30 at B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill in New York City. More dates to be announced shortly. For tour updates and information visit jerryleelewis.com.

Nearly 20 years since the formation of his Tennessee-based project sElf, Matt Mahaffey is releasing a new SElf EP – Super Fake Nice – on July 29 via El Camino Media.

The six-song collection will feature original tracks – “Gonna Rock,” “Subconscious,” “Hey Hipster,” “Looks And Money,” “Splitting Atoms” and the lead single “Runaway.” Super Fake Nice was written, produced, recorded, performed and arranged by Matt Mahaffey at his Fresh Imperial studio in Franklin, Tenn. This is the first new SElf material to be released since his 2005 album Porno, Mint, & Grime and the band will headline a rare LA show at the El Rey Theatre on Aug. 1 with hellogoodbye opening.

Mahaffey, a multi-instrumentalist studio wizard began writing songs at the age of four and spent a large part of his high school and college upbringing mastering studio techniques. In 1995 he released his debut SElf album, Subliminal Plastic Motives followed by tours with Garbage, 311 and Cracker.

Following Subliminal…, came releases on Dreamworks and Spongebath including 1999’s Breakfast With Girls and 2000’s Gizmodgery (made completely with toy instruments).

In the early 2000s, he started scoring music for CSI Miami, Entourage and Weeds. He also started playing and producing for other artists including Beck, Pink, Liz Phair, Keith Urban, The Sounds, Lupe Fiacsco, hellogoodbye and Tenacious D.

Mahaffey wrote and composed “Stay Home” for Shrek. In 2005, Mahaffey joined up with Beck when he released Guero as part of his touring band, playing multiple instruments on stage. He contributed a cover of They Might Be Giants “Ana Ng” in 2008 to the Bar None Hello Radio compilation. In 2010, he began writing songs for SElf again and released a pair of singles, 2010’s “Could You Love Me Now?” and 2011’s “Looks and Money.” While he continued to work with other artists, Matt’s desire to record and release music of his own was growing and he set to working on new music for 2014.

He kicked the year off with a vinyl reissue on Fat Possum Records of his 1995 debut Subliminal Plastic Motives in January followed by the first SElf live shows in nearly a decade. This past May he contributed new song “Stranger than Strange” to Blake Shelton’s Songs for Blake Autism Awareness Compilation.

If Sarah
McLachlan ever decides to take a break from music, she’d probably make a great
radio host.

Whenever the veteran
Canadian chanteuse provided background history for songs at the Greek Theatre on Saturday
night, her soothing voice and worldview felt like an evening love advice
program on some adult contemporary station.

That wasn’t a
bad thing; the personal connection directly extended to fans. During a captivating
2 ½ hour set (plus intermission), McLachlan invited small groups of contest
winners onstage to watch everything for short intervals, then went over to them
to take selfies and answer questions.

Keeping with
the comfy vibe, the stage design was patterned after a living room with couches,
ottomans, rugs and hanging decorative bulbs.

Before show
time and during the break, more queries were submitted by concertgoers. McLachlan
pulled slips of paper from a hat and good-naturedly addressed everything from her underwear,
the day’s activities with her young daughters and her expertise at playing drums (the
band’s timekeeper coaxed a demonstration; she actually wasn’t too shabby) to embarrassing
moments, dream duet partner (early influence Peter Gabriel) and sexual proclivities.

“Shine On,” McLachlan’s
first new studio album in four years, came out last month and debuted at No. 4
on the Billboard 200 chart. Lyrically, the solid collection is more open and direct
than previous efforts, revolving around loss, hope and awakenings. The artist reconnected
with longtime collaborator Pierre Marchand for it, but also did a few uncharacteristically
electric guitar-centric tunes with producer Bob Rock (Aerosmith, The Cult). Former
Eagles axe man Don Felder even co-wrote one about parenthood.

All but two
songs from “Shine On” were played in Los Angeles. Yet they were woven
seamlessly with enough popular selections off multi-platinum CDs “Surfacing”
and “Afterglow” to satisfy longtime enthusiasts.

McLachlan
stated she was very proud of the new material, asked for fans’ indulgence and then
said, “we’re going to start off loud and proud” (no doubt a subtle nod to her
large GLBT fan base). The four piece band opened with the driving, erotic “Flesh
and Blood,” inspired by the singer’s relationship with retired Vancouver
Canucks hockey player Geoff Courtnall.

Two big hits –
“Building a Mystery” and “Adia” – were dispatched early and prompted crowd sing-alongs.
The latter ballad segued into the calmer “Answer” and contained a sustained vocal
note that received a wild reaction.

photo by Kelly Swift

Moving easily
from her trademark grand piano to acoustic and electric guitars on various
songs, McLachlan explained the new album was about gratitude before a soaring “World
on Fire.” Utilizing syncopated keyboards, “Loving You is Easy” was a welcome
change of pace and ended up being a show highlight. The mildly aggressive “Monster,”
about “people’s moral agendas” was dedicated to “all the assholes out there.”

In the concert’s
second half, a touching, highly personal and acoustic based “Song for My Father” found Curt
Bisquera playing a single drum as the band was huddled close together.

The similar
themed “I Will Remember You,” with McLachlan alone on piano, was quietly affecting.
The musicians got a chance to expand during the organ driven “Love Beside Me”
and the singer made dramatic gestures.

Back on
electric guitar for the haunting title track to 1993’s “Fumbling Toward
Ecstasy,” McLachlan pulled out all the vocal stops; its simmering, programmed
groove was another standout. Still on a roll, that same album’s “Fear” featured
stunning, near operatic intonations. Lead guitarist Joel Shearer’s squelching
effects helped propel a strong “Sweet Surrender” and got a rousing response. The
main set ended with a stunning delivery for “Possession,” the singer totally
engrossed in the music.

Come encore
time, a guest female cellist was brought on enrich the elegant “Beautiful Girl,”
which offers a hopeful message for children (key lyric: “it will get better”)
as well as the gorgeous solo piano ballad “Angel,” where three of the male musicians
added background harmonies.

"This album is both a birth and a rebirth," explains Paul Robb of electronic act Information Society about the new album _hello world.

"It's been so long since we've made new music together it almost seems like a whole new thing, and yet anybody who has ever listened to one of our records will immediately recognize our style."

Set for release on Sept. 23 via HAKATAK International/MVD, the album marks the reunion of the original founding members of the band, Robb (synths), Kurt Larson (vocals) and James Cassidy (bass, keyboards), following the release of their single "Land of the Blind" which was released earlier this year.

"_hello world is our way of re-introducing ourselves to our old fans, and hopefully making the acquaintance of some new fans."

Originally forming in 1982 within the synthpop and New Wave worlds, Information Society (a.k.a. "INSOC") scored a top 10 dance hit in "Running" in 1985.

When asked about the band's new material, Robb says, "We've perhaps matured a bit, and that has enabled us to express some more nuanced emotions in our songs than we may have done earlier."

"Tomorrow the World," is a ballad that might have sounded out of place on earlier records, but on this album, it sounded right.

"We have traditionally not been a 'love song' kind of band," Robb says of the track. "In fact, most of our songs explore what happens when things do not work out so well, but this is a song both Kurt and I had been wanting to explore for a while. It was a situation where we said, 'We'll include it if it works, and leave it off if it doesn't.' Obviously, we thought it worked!"

Another throwback brought into the "now, is INSOC's cover of Devo's "Beautiful World" featuring that group's co-vocalist/founding member Gerald V Casale.

"We'd been toying around with doing covers of songs by some of our influences. Devo was hugely important to us when we were young, so of course we had to do a Devo cover. We had already decided on 'Beautiful World' when management reached out to and asked if he wanted to participate. When he said 'yes', it only made us more excited about recording the track. Turns out he and I live about a mile from each other!"

Sunday, June 29, 2014

During World
Party’s performance at The Troubadour on Friday, I watched the band’s violinist
and couldn’t help recalling main man Karl Wallinger’s Eighties membership in
The Waterboys (of which that instrument was often a key part).

After leaving to form World Party, Wallinger made several critically-acclaimed albums
through the next decade and scored eight minor UK hit singles. Best known in
America for the top 30 pop single “Ship of Fools,” he also charted several
times at modern and mainstream rock radio.

In 2012, following a long
absence, World Party resurfaced with Arkeology,
a five-CD collection featuring 70 rarities encased in a spiral date planner.
It encompassed the group’s quarter century history with B-sides (remember
those?), demos, covers, live sessions, radio interviews, concert and unissued studio
recordings. It’s a must-buy for diehard fans.

The band did a couple brief live swings through the States in support of Arkeology,
but last month embarked on a much bigger 25-date trek that just concluded in
Solana Beach, Calif.

Wallinger
played acoustic guitar and keyboards amid a highly impressive 100-minute set
in West Hollywood. He was backed by frequent tour mates John Turnbull (whose
credits include Nick Lowe, Boomtown Rats, Paul Young, Ian Dury’s Blockheads) on
electric guitar/backing vocals and David Duffy on violin/ mandolin/backing
vocals.

The trio opened
with intense rocker “Waiting Such a Long Time,” the first of four Arkeology tracks aired here. Fans dutifully sang
along loudly to “Put the Message in the Box,” among World Party’s best-known
hits, and it went down a storm. The musicians’ harmonies were pristine. Half a
dozen tunes were culled from 1990’s Goodbye
Jumbo.

Before a truly
sublime “Is it Like Today?,” Wallinger mused how it was complicated trying to
squeeze the history of Western philosophy into four verses and his distinctly
Welsh humor came to the fore all night. “When the Rainbow Comes,” bolstered by
Turnbull’s bluesy licks and sumptuous violin work, was an early highlight. Duffy’s
eerie accents made “Vanity Fair” more haunting than usual as Turnbull did some
chunky end riffs.

Taking to the
keyboards for romantic ballad “She’s the One” (a UK chart topper for Robbie
Williams in ’99), Wallinger had no trouble nailing the falsetto parts for the
sway-worthy “Love Street.”

“So the legalization
of marijuana is going good here?,” he asked before starting “God on My Side,”
then told the audience about playing in Colorado earlier this month and being
amazed at what he could buy.

A Beatlesque “Call
Me Up” was joyful and another example of the guys’ seamless harmonic blend. The
lilting, Celtic-tinged “Sweet Soul Dream” brought the Waterboys to mind.

Near the
end, “Ship of Fools” sounded appropriately dense and supremely soulful; “Sunshine”
segued into the slide guitar-infused main set closer “Is it Too Late?” All
three members rocked out at the end.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Lynch was one of my favorites at Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. this past spring (see review elsewhere on this blog). I look forward to his new material. Read more from the press release...

Platinum-selling recording artist Dustin Lynch unveiled details of his upcoming sophomore album – Where It's At. It will be released by Broken Bow Records on Sept. 9 and chronicles Lynch’s life over the past two years as he rose from an unknown songwriter to the only new male Country artist to earn a #1 debut album in 2012.

"It's where I am, as a person and an artist," Lynch told Rolling Stone Country. "All the songs on the record are moments I've captured and put down. They were inspired by my excitement for life. So [the album title] Where It's At sounds pretty perfect."

"There are a lot of moments where we really go for it energy-wise, with the live show in mind,” Lynch continues. “I learned that from watching Keith Urban [while on tour with him] every night."

Lynch co-wrote five of the new songs, including “Middle of Nowhere.” A special, acoustic in-studio performance can be seen only at Rolling Stone Country. Watch it here: http://www.smarturl.it/ygc4g6

The traditionalist ballad “Your Daddy’s Boots” was written by Lynch, Tim Nichols and Josh Leo, the same trio that wrote platinum-selling “Cowboys and Angels.” Though he didn’t write “What You Wanna Hear,” Lynch says he can relate to the tune penned by Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip and Ashley Gorley.

“I’m definitely a down home guy,” the Tullahoma, Tenn. native says. “If I have a day off, I’m driving the country roads just chillin’ out or going home to turkey hunt and going fishing on the river. Lyrically I relate to that song because it’s what I do and musically it’s so catchy.”

Jimmy Eat World's fall North American headlining tour will commemorate the 10-year anniversary of their album Futures. Slated to kick off in October, the band will perform their 2004 release front to back.

Confirmed dates can be found below. Fan presales have begun, with public on sales Friday at 10am (local time). Additional dates to be announced soon.

The Arizona alt-rockers will also reissue three titles on double LP via Universal Music Enterprises in partnership with SRCvinyl. Static Prevails will be released on Aug. 19, Clarity on Sept. 2 and Futures on Sept. 30.

Remastered from the highest quality 16-bit/44.1 khz recording and cut as 33 1/3 RPM, each LP contains bonus song(s). Pressed by Pallas, in Germany, and mastered for the reissues by Kevin Gray.

All three titles are available for pre-order now at: http://shop.jimmyeatworld.com/ and www.srcvinyl.com. An exclusive pre-order bundle is available via Jimmy Eat World's website. In this bundle, fans will find a limited edition numbered t-shirt and LP, for each of the titles. The LPs will be for sale at all major and independent retail outlets in the US and Canada.

Dove Award-winning artist and Season 11 "American Idol" finalist Colton Dixon has announced the Aug. 19 release of his sophomore studio album, Anchor through Capitol CMG "Finally some new music,” says Dixon. “I’m beyond excited to share what I've been up to since A Messenger. We've explored new territory, new sounds, and new topics for the record, and my hope is that at the end of it all, you feel closer to God than you did when you pressed play."Anchor was written and recorded over the last year between tour dates. Dixon experimented with new sounds and steered the lyrics in a more thematic route. He co-wrote with TobyMac, Matthew West and others.First single “More Of You” has already made it on the National Christian Audience chart, with airplay on K-LOVE and Air1.

Fans can purchase the single on iTunes now. Click http://smarturl.it/MoreOfYou to get "More of You." Last year, Dixon released two radio singles, “You Are” and “Never Gone,” both reaching No. 1 at CHR and on the iTunes Christian singles charts.

This project comes on the heels of a best-selling and record-breaking album debut in 2013 with the release of A Messenger. Dixon’s full-length debut set the largest first week sales by a new solo Christian artist making it the top album sold in that market.

Dixon was also nominated for three Dove awards and won “Best Contemporary Rock Album.”

Brian Setzer has premiered the first single “Let’s Shake,” off his new album Rockabilly Riot: All Original, which comesout Aug. 12 via Sufdog Records. Setzer says, “Yeah, ‘Let’s Shake,’ how come no one has thought of that title yet? We’ve been making rock ‘n roll now for 60 years and no one has come up with ‘Let’s Shake?’ And I came up with it and I went ‘wow…Let’s Shake!’ You know, oh god, it’s just so simple it’s magic! It’s got a really great guitar solo in it, just rock ‘n roll sounding…it’s not really ‘billy’ sounding, it’s more rock and roll… again, it’s the simplest songs that are the hardest to write.”

The album was produced by Peter Collins (who’s handled the same honors for previous albums Vavoom! and The Dirty Boogie).

“It’s
funny how English people seem to have a more sensibility about what
rockabilly music is, even though it was invented in the South says Setzer.
“They seem to know what it should sound like. Peter Collins is
experienced and an accomplished producer, he’s done a lot of records,
but he loves rockabilly music and he knows what it should sound like. "I think this album sounds to me a little bit like the first Stray Cats record," continues the veteran singer/guitarist. "It's rockabilly songs, not just blues songs in the rockabilly style. People like to call it ‘neo-billy’ I suppose, which is some invented word that somebody came up with, but if that’s the word they want to use, I’d like to go with that because it sounds to me like it’s very modern and fresh sounding rockabilly.”Riot will be available for pre-order on iTunes and Amazon, in all formats (including vinyl), beginning July 7.

Track listing:1. Let’s Shake2. Rockabilly Blues3. Vinyl Records4. Lemme Slide5. Nothing Is A Sure Thing6. What’s Her Name7. Calamity Jane8. The Girl With The Blues In Her Eyes9. Stiletto Cool10. I Should Have Had A V811. Blue Lights Big City12. Cock-a-Doodle Don’t

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Since I interviewed Ure for his recent U.S. tour (see elsewhere here), this is one of my highly anticipated albums of 2014...

Grammy and Brit Award winning musician Midge Ure, OBE (Officer of the British Empire - awarded in 2005) is set to release Fragile, his first new studio album in over a decade, on Aug. 18 via eOne Music.

The album's tracks were influenced by Ure's accomplished guitar work (Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy) and the synth sounds and technology he has utilized since the late 1970s to today (Visage, Ultravox). "Dark, Dark Night" is a collaboration with Moby.

Ure recorded almost entirely in his own studio in Bath, England and handled the playing, arranging, producing and engineering. "Dark, Dark Night" is a collaboration with Moby.

Fragile is quite possibly the most intimate and honest album I have ever released. Its the kind of work you can only do after a lifetime making music," said Midge Ure. Ure will also play dates in North America this summer as part of the Retro Futura Tour.

"Doing the Retro Futura Tour 2014 is going to be a great experience for me in the U.S. Working with Howard Jones and Tom Bailey (Thompson Twins) playing many songs which shaped the 80’s will be a ball."

"Although it isn’t the time or place to introduce music from my long awaited new album ‘Fragile,’ I will be performing songs from this new work directly after the tour finishes in the form of solo acoustic shows to be announced soon."

Pre-orders are available at robertplant.com and include a limited-edition print and an instant download of "Rainbow," which will be released as a digital single on June 24. Plant and the band will tour the US this fall, including two nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, September 27 and 28, as part of Nonesuch Records at BAM: Celebrating 50 Years of the Label without Labels; further dates will be announced soon.

lullaby and The Ceaseless Roar is Plant's first record since 2010's Band of Joy, which followed 2007's six-time Grammy Award-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand. Justin Adams and John Baggott of The Sensational Space Shifters appeared on Plant's 2002 release Dreamland, while all but Camara and Smith appeared on 2005's Mighty Rearranger. The new-album line-up recently toured the world before recording lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar at Helium Studios in Wiltshire and Real World Studios in Bath, UK. "Rainbow" was recorded in Contino Rooms in London. Tchad Blake mixed all but three tracks on the album.

"It's really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep," Plant says. "The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music...I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what's happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships," Plant explains. "....and now I'm able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship."